Shadow Reaper
by unknown lunatic
Summary: Once sane, then psychotic. Blood is an aroma to his nose, his mind always hungry for death. He wants nothing more than to make the demigod species extinct. The reaper is unknown to everyone. He's sure to leave his murders in the shadows. One-shot.


**Shadow Reaper**

**Summary: Once sane, then psychotic. Blood is an aroma to his nose, his mind always hungry for death. He wants nothing more than to make the demigod species extinct. He's sure to leave his murders in the shadows, unknown. One-shot.**

**Just a little one-shot I thought I would do since I couldn't find any horror stories about murder and stuff. If you guys want, I can turn it into a full-fledged story. Just say in your review.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Percy Jackson**

**3rd Person POV**

_Agony._

It was the only thing ever experienced once past the Doors of Death.

Nico di Angelo floated clueless in the cold, harsh air. Screams filled his ears, pain exploded everywhere in his body, and his mind was crammed with excruciating thoughts. He tried to curl up in a ball, but his shadow restraints prevented him. He wanted so much to cover his ears, to block the pain, the sorrow, the agony.

The shadows of the night seemed to swirl around him, wrapping him securely in a cocoon of nightmares.

He fought and screamed, vain attempts consistently, one after the other. Maniacal laughter echoed in the endless void, its evilness haunting those who heard it. Creatures of the night lurked in the eternal blackness. They hissed at him, taunting him, crushing him.

"...why do you live..."

"All you do is harm..."

"Nobody likes you..."

"...they all left..."

Nico refused to believe the whispers. He did his best to block them out. But one day, he just gave in. They impaled their words into his mind like a stake. He understood. He knew. And he believed.

"...you're a murderer..."

_I'm a murderer…_

"You harm and you kill. Nothing of your being is worthy."

_I am not worthy…_

"Your father, your friends, your mother and sister are disgraced by your presence..."

_I am a disgrace_...

Nico knew that they were right. He didn't need to live. He was one of the shadows. A creature of the night. He wasn't needed. Nobody loved him.

_I'm useless…_

And every day they whispered to him. They told him of how to assassinate. They told of whom to murder, and told him where he belonged.

"...you belong here, with the dead..."

Nico would always close his eyes, he always let the new, but old, information sink in. He knew he had failed. They had gotten to him in his vulnerable state. He was weak, and nobody needed him. Nico would always open his eyes, a dark light glinting in them, and he would whisper:

_"I am a monster."_

**...Shadow Reaper...**

Years had passed, but the monster still lived within Nico. He listened each day; he listened for the call of the shadows, for his dark masters to whisper to him. He waited for midnight each day, and at each midnight, he reaped. The smell of fresh, crimson blood was an aroma to him, the sight of death before his eyes, and the sound of vain struggles from the victim. It was a disaster each morning; a corpse was found in a pool of blood, nothing left behind but the sound of a whisper—the whisper of a reaper.

Nico loved it. He loved the secrecy and finesse of his killings, he loved the surprised friends of the victims, and he basked in the sorrow of demigods.

_Demigods should not exist,_ He always thought. _Demigods are monsters, they must be extinguished, and I will be the one to do so._

The creatures always encouraged the assassin the kill. They told him of the horrors of a demigod. Why they must be gone. Nico was on a mission. He had a goal, and nobody ever discovered his secret.

But best of all, Nico loved the eyes. He loved to watch the victim as they died, and during his or her death, he loved to stare into the eyes. He love to see the pupils enlarge, but most of all, he loved to see the gaunt veil of life disappear. He loved to witness the spark of life wash away as their souls crossed into the Underworld.

Murders were quiet processes. However, one night had gone completely unplanned, and it abashed Nico. It haunted his mind, torturing him, assuring him that he failed his task in life. But the anguish never faded. It never left. He tried to ostracize it, but it refused to decease. Nico dreaded the nights with those suicidal dreams, and when he did get them, it was always the same:

_The wind sliced through the light rain, thunder cracked and lightning flashed menacingly at the trees of the forest. Monsters screamed through the rain, enraged with a fiery power of darkness. Shadows loomed over the forest, expelling the moon's glow._

_A haunting laugh pierced the night air, venom dripping off every slight chuckle._

"_Hush…" The reaper mollified, his voice deadly smooth. He glanced down at his victim: dark, jet-black hair accompanied by sea green eyes, struggling against the wire pressed tightly against his throat._

_The victim opened his mouth to shout for help, but the reaper yanked harder on the wire garrote, and the victim let out a squeak of pain._

_The reaper dragged the victim across the forest, into his secluded homicide spot. Unfound corpses were stashed behind a tree, even the nymphs too afraid to approach. The reaper finally stopped walking, and let one had go of the wire. The victim gagged, and gasped for air, the humidity of the night causing sweat to drip down his face. On the floor, the victim turned around to face the reaper, fear evident in his eyes._

"_What do you want?" The victim rasped._

_Instead of a forthright answer, the reaper lunged forward, drawing a hunting knife in the process. He pinned the victim against the floor, the knife threatening to slip straight through the victim's neck._

_The victim's breath came out in short puffs. His eyes narrowed at the murderer before they widened in realization._

"_Nico?" The victim asked._

_The reaper snarled furiously, for no one was to find out his identity._

"_Quiet," Nico hissed, slamming the victim's rising head into the ground. Deep satisfaction rose in his throat as he heard a groan escape the victim's mouth, blood slowly seeping out from behind his skull._

"_Nico," the victim tried again, "it's me—Percy. We've been looking for yo—"_

"_Lies!" Nico roared. "Nobody looks for a monster."_

"_No, Nico," Percy choked. "You're not a monster. You're a demigod, a hero."_

_Nico pressed the knife deeper into Percy's neck, drawing the slightest bit of blood. Percy grew dizzy from the throbbing in the back of his head. Blood poured out of his wound, and the crimson color sparked an emotion in Nico's eyes. The bitter smell of the red liquid wafted to Nico's nose, making him inhale deeply._

_The reaper sighed in pleasure. His bloodlust was uncontrollable, he knew it, but he couldn't help himself when it came to death._

"_No demigod is a hero," Nico whispered. "Demigods are monsters, creatures to not be born, a mistake to the world._

"_And one by one, I plan to eliminate the race of demigods on the planet, and you're my next prey."_

_A scream erupted from Percy's lips as the knife dug deeper into his flesh, tearing apart the layers of skin individually, blood oozing from the wound. Tears built up in the edges of Percy's eyes mixed with sweat and rain. Lightning flashed and struck the ground near the two. Nico loosened his grip on the knife for a fraction of a second in shock. Then he regained his composure and forced the knife deeper into the wound._

"_PERCY!" A feminine voice shrieked from behind the reaper. Nico whipped around, no longer pressing the knife against his skin. Percy was limp, almost dead from a cut in his trachea, but he managed to lift his hand a bit to the girl._

"_Anna—" Percy coughed._

"_Percy!" Annabeth screamed. She turned her attention to the murderer, filled with impossible rage._

"_You!" She spat._

"_Me," Nico repeated cockily._

_Annabeth let out a screech filled with fury. She drew her knife and lunged for the reaper. Nico swiftly ducked and rolled off to the side, jumping on Annabeth's back and restraining her to the ground. He snatched her knife out of her hand and pressed it against the back of her head, his knife pressing into the back of her neck._

"_Nice try, _Annie,_" Nico hissed. He pressed the knife deep enough to temporarily immobilize her and set her aside tied to a tree._

"_Who are you?" She shouted._

_Nico crouched down to Percy's level, out of the way so Annabeth could see. He set the hunting knife between Percy's eyes and looked up at Annabeth. She was crying, thrashing against her bonds. An amused gleam flashed in Nico's eyes. He found happiness in this. He wanted to see the light of the victims fade away. Nico stared into Percy's pleading eyes and smirked._

_Then he plunged the knife in._

_Nico could feel the knife slice through the skull, then smash the soft brain. Percy's face twisted into one of immense pain, but fell limp in seconds, the color fading from his skin and the light gone from his eyes. His pupils enlarged with no emotion in them. Blood trickled down Percy's face and splashed on the floor without a sound._

"_NO!" Annabeth sobbed. "NO!"_

_She turned her head to Nico. "YOU _MONSTER!_" She screamed._

_Nico felt a sharp coldness in his chest, like a stake impaling itself into his heart._

"_I am a monster," Nico repeated._

"_WHO ARE YOU?" Annabeth shouted._

_He approached her. "Nico di Angelo," he whispered._

_Annabeth's eyes widened in shock. "N-No," She said, her voice failing her. "You wouldn't."_

_Nico let out a dry laugh. "I would," he promised. "I am a monster, and you know it too. But I have failed, so goodbye, Annabeth."_

_Annabeth closed her eyes and awaited the pain, but when she didn't feel it she opened her eyes to see Nico plunging the hunting knife into his chest, into his heart._

_Annabeth let out a blood-curdling scream and watched as Nico fell to the floor._

_Nico managed a quick whisper:_

"_They call me the Shadow Reaper."_


End file.
